A slightly smaller Mess

The crew return fire, for all the good it will do. in his last moments, the captain roars above the din of fire. "Go with the emperor!" And charges towards the iron warriors sword held above his head.

he is gunned down, mercilessly

soon enough, there are no living souls loyal to the emperor aboard the bridge.

with the fleet gone, the iron warriors ships begin to take up positions over the planet below, but do not commence their invasion...yet

Laurence looks down at his dataslate, then turns, and walks inside the house, pressing a button by the door, he talks into the intercom, his voice projected into every room. +Everyone down into the lower levels.+ His voice is flat and monotone.

Lyanna:+what's happening?+

Laurence: +The fleet has broken, the iron warriors are likely moving to bombardment positions.+

+of bloody course they are+

+So get, the fuck, downstairs.+ He sounds odd, serious. It's out of character for him, he's not angry, just, serious.

she's already doing so

Most of laurences people are already down there, the upper floors left eerie. Tyren is waiting for her on the first basement level, suited in his contemptor.

Lyanna is wearing battle armour... although she has it would seem modified it so it looks less chaosy

One of laurence's people is stood by the door down to the lower levels, a bullpup lasgun of unconventional design slack in his hands, and non standard armour which appears, superficially at least to be carapace.

Tyren turns at the waist to look at her as she enters the long corridor, in the dull yellow light of glow globes, as the great hangar door at the end, leading to the surface has shut, in what may turn out to be a futile gesture to protect the armoured vehicles on this level.

lyanna slowly walks over to tyren, ignoring the others

He slowly turns his legs to face the direction of his upper body. A motion thats rather unnerving, if it were accomplished by a person.

"theyre here"

[I heard...]

"We're fucked aren't we?"

[Maybe... Probably.]

she just sighs to herself

[By far, not as fucked as we have been.]

"Maybe"

[We were more fucked when we met.]

"...I wouldn't say so"

[In a bombed out street, lit by the flash of artillery? An eldar hybrid for company and enemies all around? I would call that quite fucked]

"Pretty sure I almost did you in"

[The grenade was certainly an unwelcome present.]

he can tell she's smiling under the helmet

[Come now, if the bombardment starts, i wish to be far below.]

"lead the way, big guy"

*Tyren turns, and starts walking down towards the door. The man guarding it, bows his head low in respect, and opens the door with a code punched into a pad by its side.*

lyanna watches him silently

Tyren walks through, and the man's emotionless helmet turns to face lyanna. It's faceplate is home to a dozen or more sets of optics, lending it a disquieting insect like appearance, and a pict caster on its shoulder. Not an inch of skin shows through the plating.

she ignores him as she marches through

The door slides closed behind her, leaving the man at the door, and laurence, the highest people in the house.

they go deeper

Soon enough, they come to the level given to be low enough to avoid bombardment. Sat around on benches of plasteel, are the entire staff. All dressed for war. They make a fearsome company as any, some fifty members. At a glance, from their wear, lyanna can tell four more of the lazarus men, well, three men, and a woman. The blank woman, a small multitude of psykers, and general agents abound.

Diana is, silently, also present

Not a word is spoken, a few people raise their heads, and nod, or make the aquilla as tyren enters, but no words.

Lyanna:...*mutters* cheerful fuckers eh?

One of the psykers, a telekine by the long silver needles that decorate her person, responds. "Oh yeah, lets throw a party while the world burns huh?"

"Gonna guess this is the first time you've had a world burn around you? You get used to it."

One of the soldiers stands, a guardsman by his set, an officer most likely. Broad shouldered and lean, clean shaven and hair close cropped. "No, we won't. I think we all know we're not leaving this one."

Telekine: "Doesn't take a genius to figure that out."

"Oh chin up you ya gloomy fuckers! I've lived through tougher spots than this. You still have your strength, and your arms. They haven't got you yet."

officer: "And we plan to sell our lives dearly indeed. But they are astartes, and outnumber us even then. And at that, no help is coming. In emperor's name we intend to give it a solid shake, but... we've, all of us, made our peace." He's the fitting image of an officer, and the slow nods behind him give voice to the fact he's the leader among them.

lyanna glances at tyren, curious if he has anything to say on the matter

Tyren speaks, the rumbling vox casters lending gravitas beyond mortal speech. [I cannot fault your resolve. But life is the emperor's currency. Do not spend it willingly, and, with faith, we shall see the end of this, with life intact.]

"Fight as though you intend to live. Just because the situation is dire, does not mean the die is yet cast"

Officer: "Of course my lord... Emperor Protects..."

In the moment of awkward silence that follows, laurence, followed by the lazarus man enters the room.

"Took your time"

Laurence just looks at her, face drained of all energy and animation, his mouth a thin line, his eyes hooded. Without a word he turns and walks down the adjacent corridor.